For those of you that have used my Candle Party Concepts website in the past, I wanted to let you know that I will be shutting the site down in the next month or so. Over time, I will be adding those ideas to this site, so please make sure you start using this site instead and if there's something specific you want off the other site, copy it down now!
So, thanks to those who have supported that site in the past. I'm just moving things over to this FREE blog to save some money on the website costs. Also, the blog is so much easier to update than the website was so with my limited time (now that I have a toddler running around and another baby on the way), I'll be able to update the blog more often than I could update the website.
7/9/09
Phone Calls AFTER the Order
What a great service it would be if you purchased something (especially if you spent a lot of money) and someone actually called to make sure you were happy with the product and to see if you had any questions.
I've started doing this and because I get mostly voice mail messages, it really only takes 5 to 10 minutes to get through a whole list of people who purchased at a party. I just leave a quick message to tell them I wanted to make sure they were happy with what they ordered & that if they have any questions or if there's anything else I can do for them, to just let me know.
When I do get to talk with someone, I almost always get a VERY positive response & they usually thank me for calling. I also usually get very positive reviews on the products they ordered, which makes me finish the calls feeling even better about the great products I sell. And on the occasional call where someone has a problem with a product, it allows me to fix it quickly for them so they don't get a bad taste in their mouth for our company because a lot of times they might never have contacted me & instead just felt like the product didn't live up to their expectations.
Try some phone calls this week. Call those who have received their product in the last week & see what results you get. Remember to have their receipt handy so you know exactly what they ordered when you are talking with them!
I've started doing this and because I get mostly voice mail messages, it really only takes 5 to 10 minutes to get through a whole list of people who purchased at a party. I just leave a quick message to tell them I wanted to make sure they were happy with what they ordered & that if they have any questions or if there's anything else I can do for them, to just let me know.
When I do get to talk with someone, I almost always get a VERY positive response & they usually thank me for calling. I also usually get very positive reviews on the products they ordered, which makes me finish the calls feeling even better about the great products I sell. And on the occasional call where someone has a problem with a product, it allows me to fix it quickly for them so they don't get a bad taste in their mouth for our company because a lot of times they might never have contacted me & instead just felt like the product didn't live up to their expectations.
Try some phone calls this week. Call those who have received their product in the last week & see what results you get. Remember to have their receipt handy so you know exactly what they ordered when you are talking with them!
7/8/09
Keep in touch with customers using Postcards
I have an e-newsletter that goes out to my customers each month & send out additional e-mails from time to time. I also keep in touch with customers by phone for those who have ordered recently, but I noticed a while back that I had so many customers in my database that didn't have an e-mail address listed (or the e-mail address was no longer a good one). I could've called each one, but I can tell you that I wouldn't have known who most of them were, if they had ever purchased from me (or just expressed interest), & would, therefore, not have a clue as to what to say to them!
I decided to reach out by mail, using postcards! I designed a postcard on www.vistaprint.com. For me, I shared a recipe that was the same as one of our candle fragrances -- so it went WITH my business, but was also something that I was giving for free & not just using to advertise. With a recipe card, I was hoping they'd also add it to their recipe files (instead of just throwing it away) & ALWAYS have my contact information handy.
I purchase 1 pack of FREE postcards from vista print each month (paying just for shipping) & send those out. It does take time to hand-address them and it costs to pay for postage, but I have heard from at least one customer with each mailing. I have received leads for vendor events & even gotten straight out orders from people who I hadn't had contact with in quite a while.
With my huge list of customers, it will take me several months to send a postcard to each person (doing 100 a month). And when I get through the whole list, I'll design a new recipe postcard & start at the beginning again. Customers will hear from me by mail at least once a year this way & I'll be able to reach out to those who don't hear from me through e-mail.
I decided to reach out by mail, using postcards! I designed a postcard on www.vistaprint.com. For me, I shared a recipe that was the same as one of our candle fragrances -- so it went WITH my business, but was also something that I was giving for free & not just using to advertise. With a recipe card, I was hoping they'd also add it to their recipe files (instead of just throwing it away) & ALWAYS have my contact information handy.
I purchase 1 pack of FREE postcards from vista print each month (paying just for shipping) & send those out. It does take time to hand-address them and it costs to pay for postage, but I have heard from at least one customer with each mailing. I have received leads for vendor events & even gotten straight out orders from people who I hadn't had contact with in quite a while.
With my huge list of customers, it will take me several months to send a postcard to each person (doing 100 a month). And when I get through the whole list, I'll design a new recipe postcard & start at the beginning again. Customers will hear from me by mail at least once a year this way & I'll be able to reach out to those who don't hear from me through e-mail.
5/21/09
Summer Ideas for your Team
A traveling theme can be a fun thing to do for your team in the summer months.
A couple of years ago, we did a contest of sorts. I put together a list of the states, alphabetically from A to Z and then challenged my team to make a sale to someone in every state in the country. When they sold to someone in a new state, I'd add their name next to the state name. Each person could get one drawing ticket for each state they sold in & then we did a drawing at the end.
This year, we're doing a Summer Road Trip theme for our team meetings. Since my team members travel up to an hour & a half to get to our regular meeting location, I thought we'd spread out a little & have each meeting in a different location, hopefully getting to places that are closer to where some of the team members live. They will be held at some of my leaders' homes, which will also hopefully encourage their team members who don't regularly attend to be there. To further entice people to come out, at each meeting, we will start it out as a home party with a demonstrator on the team doing their full party demonstration. The demonstrators on my team are always looking for ideas for their parties & wanting to see how other demonstrators do their parties, so I'm hoping this will encourage them to come out to the meetings.
A couple of years ago, we did a contest of sorts. I put together a list of the states, alphabetically from A to Z and then challenged my team to make a sale to someone in every state in the country. When they sold to someone in a new state, I'd add their name next to the state name. Each person could get one drawing ticket for each state they sold in & then we did a drawing at the end.
This year, we're doing a Summer Road Trip theme for our team meetings. Since my team members travel up to an hour & a half to get to our regular meeting location, I thought we'd spread out a little & have each meeting in a different location, hopefully getting to places that are closer to where some of the team members live. They will be held at some of my leaders' homes, which will also hopefully encourage their team members who don't regularly attend to be there. To further entice people to come out, at each meeting, we will start it out as a home party with a demonstrator on the team doing their full party demonstration. The demonstrators on my team are always looking for ideas for their parties & wanting to see how other demonstrators do their parties, so I'm hoping this will encourage them to come out to the meetings.
4/20/09
Extra Catalogs
We're coming up on a catalog transition time . . . out with one & in with a new one. I have a bunch of extra catalogs laying around & have wrapped up all my parties for the month since I am getting ready to head out of town. Thursday's weather looks like it will be great here, no rain & mild temperatures, so I'm going to take my extra catalogs & put them in Gold Canyon plastic bags, add a coupon for 15% off an order placed by the end of the month and a tealight sample, then I'm going to take a walk around the neighborhood & leave them at my neighbors' doors. Normally, I wouldn't spend money on this kind of advertising since it doesn't tend to give big results, but since the catalogs would just be going in the trash, I figured, "why not?". It will only cost me a little extra since I'm adding the tealight sample and won't take extra time from my day since I'll do it while I'm out for a walk that I would be going on anyway.
4/7/09
Mother's Day - Men's Event!
Here's a fun idea for Mother's Day sales:
My husband decided he wanted to do an open house for his friends this year for them to be able to purchase Mother's Day gifts from me for their wives. We figured there had to be something that would entice them to come, so my brilliant husband came up with a great idea!
He's going to do a Home Run Derby using the Wii. When they come to the open house, they'll each get a chance at the Home Run contest on the Wii. The person who gets the most home runs will get a $10 gift certificate to Quiznos.
I'll also have out some refreshments & will have some "packages" put together for them to choose from for their gift purchases to make it simple, quick & easy for them to do their shopping. Of course, free gift wrap is a must as well to make it as easy as possible for the guys.
I won't even have to be there. My husband will take care of everything since I'll be watching the kids upstairs!
My husband decided he wanted to do an open house for his friends this year for them to be able to purchase Mother's Day gifts from me for their wives. We figured there had to be something that would entice them to come, so my brilliant husband came up with a great idea!
He's going to do a Home Run Derby using the Wii. When they come to the open house, they'll each get a chance at the Home Run contest on the Wii. The person who gets the most home runs will get a $10 gift certificate to Quiznos.
I'll also have out some refreshments & will have some "packages" put together for them to choose from for their gift purchases to make it simple, quick & easy for them to do their shopping. Of course, free gift wrap is a must as well to make it as easy as possible for the guys.
I won't even have to be there. My husband will take care of everything since I'll be watching the kids upstairs!
3/29/09
Advertise your blog
If you have a blog for your business, how do you advertise it?
A couple of ideas I've used . . .
1. Post a vague comment on your facebook or twitter account & then include your blog link for more information. Example: I might post something like, "Don't just throw your empty candle jars away; re-use them http://gottahavecandles.blogspot.com/2009/03/re-use-your-empty-candle-jars.html". Rather than doing a blatant advertisement, you're creating curiosity so they'll want to look at the link & not feel like you're trying to sell them something.
2. Order postcards from www.vistaprint.com to advertise your blog; send them out to your customer contacts. I send out 100 postcards each month to advertise my blog -- that way its not too overwhelming for me and everyone on my list receives a postcard a couple of times a year. The first ones I sent out just introduced my blog. When those had been sent out to everyone on my list, I did a new postcard, this time including a recipe for Sugar Cookies, telling them they could find more great recipes & candle tips on my blog, since I post a few recipes every month.
3. On all customer correspondence that goes out in the mail, I add a label to the back of the envelope that has my blog address and a little blurb about why they should check it out.
4. My blog address is listed on all of my marketing materials, including business card magnets, catalogs, business cards, and any other promotional materials.
5. Include it as part of your e-mail signature.
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